Stockton sees rise in violent crime

Burglary down 25.9 percent in first half of 2014

STOCKTON - Stockton Police Chief Eric Jones is troubled by a significant increase in the city's homicide rate this year following a dramatic decline in 2013, but he said his department will not be deterred in its efforts to fight violent crime.

STOCKTON - Stockton Police Chief Eric Jones is troubled by a significant increase in the city's homicide rate this year following a dramatic decline in 2013, but he said his department will not be deterred in its efforts to fight violent crime.

There were 21 homicides in Stockton over the first six months of 2014 compared with 12 over the same period in 2013, an increase of 75 percent, police said. The city experienced a 54.9 percent decline in homicides in 2013 after setting records with 58 homicides in 2011 and 71 in 2012.

"One homicide is one too many," Jones said. "Homicides are up this year, but if we look overall at violent crime or shootings, we're at least staying static to last year, which was a good year for us. Overall, crime is down 10 percent so far, which is very encouraging, but we definitely still have a lot of work to do."

Figures released by the Police Department show a 4 percent increase in violent crimes, including a 24.5 percent rise in forcible rapes and a 7 percent increase in aggravated assaults. Meanwhile, property crimes are down 13.4 percent, including a 25.9 percent decline in burglaries, a 6.2 percent drop in robberies and a 14.8 percent drop in auto theft.

"We still know our priority is guns and gangs, and we will remain unwavered from our plan," Jones said. "Last year was a really good year for us, but if you look at our long-term trend lines, we may be falling back within historical averages, but that is not our goal. Our goal is to continue to reduce (violent crime)."

Joelle Gomez, chief executive officer of the Women's Center-Youth and Family Services, said she was not surprised by the rise in violent crimes.

"That 25 percent increase in rapes is what we're seeing at the Women's Center, and many of the sexual assault victims we're seeing may not even be reporting it to law enforcement, so that number might be a lot higher," Gomez said. "I think some of the contributing factors in our community and San Joaquin County are that we still have a pretty high unemployment rate, we have one of the highest rates of domestic violence calls to law enforcement in the state of California, and we have a really high intensity of gangs as well. I think those factors drive crime, whether we're looking at the homicide number or the increase in rapes."

Contact reporter Jason Anderson at (209) 546-8279 or janderson@recordnet.com. Follow him at recordnet.com/crimeblog and on Twitter @Stockton911.